Retail Leadership - Still The Most Misunderstood Occupation
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I ended up in an interview accidentally last week. Weird, right?
Basically, someone connected with me and asked if I'd be interested in a writing project, so I said sure. When I got on the call, three other people were on, and I quickly realized that this was an interview to be part of a content writing team.
Okay, I thought. No biggie. I'll roll with this. It could be a cool endeavor.
After I explained my retail-leader history and told them how I got into writing and even Web3 writing, they looked perplexed. Like, they didn't understand how my leadership background could complement my writing career.
Let me break it down for anyone who may still need clarification.
I could not have become a solo entrepreneur without my previous retail career. Period.
My retail career taught me how to:
Talk to anyone
Manage my time
Work on multiple projects at once
Become a black belt in scheduling
Learn anything and everything and then implement it
Retail leadership is one of the most misunderstood occupations out there. You don't need a specific degree to learn it, so people have this misconception that it's easy.
Running a sales floor with sixteen people on it is far from easy. You have to ensure all those people stay where they're supposed to be, stay on task, and send them on break on time.
You have to do that while you ring someone up, answer the phone, and give directions over a walkie. It's a ton of shit. My last store was a multi-million behemoth with sixty employees. I ran it well and helped make it more profitable than ever. Guess what?
This is the norm. This is what retail leaders do across the country.
Most retail leaders view their stores as their own businesses. They'll work overtime and even overnight if it sets the store up to be in a better position. It's blood, sweat, and tears, friends. We do it all with a smile on our faces and a spring in our step.
The truth is, most people wouldn't last a week on a retail floor.
It must feel good for people to look down on retail work - because I sure have heard it a lot throughout my retail career. All of it's bullshit.
Never let anyone make you think you're not as bright or don't deserve to be somewhere because you come from retail.
If you can make it in retail, you can make it anywhere.
MAILBOX
This message landed in my inbox recently.
"I have endlessly searched, applied and reached out to various companies regarding different roles but have yet to receive a response for 85% of the positions I have inquired about. I recently saw your post about retail leaders and how they tend to be underestimated which is something I have been feeling lately."
This person asked me how to find a new job that aligned with their passions.
This was my reply.
"Begin to post on LinkedIn to set yourself apart from other applicants. Talk about what you're great at and what you love doing. Connect with people that do what you want to do. Comment on other people's posts with thoughtful insight.
As you start posting, you'll find a community of people who relate to what you do. Pretty soon, opportunities will begin to pop up that you hadn't even considered. Posting on LinkedIn regularly is totally underrated. It's the number one place people go to find potential employees who are thinking in a new way."
LinkedIn gets massive amounts of shade. I get it. Many of the posts can be a bit formulaic, and some of the stuff that goes viral is some of the most basic shit I've ever read.
However, I've met the most incredible people on LinkedIn and found all my kick-ass clients there too. LinkedIn is like anywhere else on earth - you have to hang around long enough to find your community and weed out the junk. When you do, you'll get offers you didn't even know existed.
Level Up
One thing you can do today is to be a better leader.
Teach someone something that's outside their job description.
Job descriptions are simply guidelines. Don't stick too closely to what they say. I never did.
Let me give you an example.
When I was a store leader, we had to pull a sales read at the top of every hour. This was a "manager job." Did it really have to be a manager? No. There was zero confidential information in the sales read. It also took about five minutes to write all the numbers down and do some math.
So, we taught everyone how to do it. Some of the cashiers loved doing it. Great! Go for it.
This sounds like no big deal, but look at the allocation of time.
When you run a sales floor for a shift, you're doing it for at least six hours. You pull the read every hour you run the floor. 5 min X 6 = 30 min. You're spending 30 minutes of your day writing sales numbers down.
Thirty minutes. That is way too long for a leader to spend time writing numbers on a piece of paper repeatedly.
When your cashier does it, you can do something else - like team selling or giving your salespeople some product knowledge. Almost anything else is a better use of your time. And I almost don't even want to point out that 30 min X 5 days a week is two and a half hours. What else could you be doing with 2.5 hours? So. Many. Things.
So, go on. Teach everyone everything. It's going to make your life at work so much better.
If you know anyone else that would like The Voice of the Frontline, please forward this email.
You're the absolute best.
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Agreed most people feels people in retail are all cashiers.
Reality - Retail opens your eyes to how consumers think and consume. I have worked in luxury and now Big Box retail both require an individual to understand the entire store operation. From beyond opening to closing the store, retail employee require the following skills: math; strong interpersonal skills; inventory management; loss preventation(no security guards); tech support skills of Point of Service; data anyalysis; human resource skills; event management; marketing skills; omni channel fulfilment; dealing with supply chain; sales; project manager; merchandiser and conduct teamwork with all levels of the business.
Everything you wrote is true! I’ve been in retail sales for over thirty years and have experienced everything you described, including the anti-retail attitude. Doing more with less time and people is the norm. You’re right about people not lasting a week or even a day! However, I love meeting new people, and there’s an energy and creativity about it. I enjoy going to work!